Ottawa-based graphic artist Eric Chan marries technology to groovy colourscapes that bring the world of the yellow submarine into the here-and-now. Chan uses generative programs of his own creation to output compositions that are chock full of movement, which is no surprise since music serves as inspiration. Chan manages to combine elements of street art, Japanese prints and graphic design to create eye candy that translates quite well into function – if his designs for a Harvey Nics’ line of belts is anything to go by!

Artist: Eric Chan
+ eepmon.com

Although Cerith Wyn Evans concentrates his efforts on work in film and video, it is his art installations that say a lot with very little. Wyn Evans works well with words that reference history, philosophy and literature (among other areas) and uses media such as neon lights to bring these ideas to life. The harsh light brings out the poetry of the words, giving them the chance to truly stand out. The ideas become etched on our minds. Most of Wyn Evans’ pieces are in English, but In Girum Imus Nocte et Consumimur Igni is a Latin palindrome meaning 'We go round and round in the night and we are consumed by fire' and indeed, the artist has created a piece that takes place in the round.

McKendree Key is an installation artist with balls. Key’s installations take place indoors and out, using thousands of balls to disturb a chosen setting. Key has gone swimming with 28,000 pink balls in a pond and had 45,000 balls captured on a Barcelona terrace, but only scattered 4,000 balls onto the frozen surface of Lake Champlain. Obviously, Key’s gallery installations are much easier to control, but the artist does take good care, with the help of a crew, to clean up after her installations have been recorded, building fences to trap the balls before they float away on longer term journeys.

Artist: McKendree Key
+ mckendreekey.com

Ernie Pook’s Comeek, a comic strip by Lynda Barry that enjoyed tenure at several alternative newspapers, was where readers got to make the acquaintance of the not-so-pretty-nor-popular Marlys and her circle. Marlys embodies all that preteen angst that we like to think we have buried in the past, so we cringe along with every suffering. This book, The Greatest of Marlys, is a compilation of over 200 of these comics and provides quite a glimpse into the complications of ordinary crummy life as lived by Marlys, her teenage sister, Maybonne, and their weird brother, Freddie. Lynda Barry’s drawings are perfect for the depiction of a goofy time we often find disastrous. Funny, but also poignant.

Paperback, 224 pages. Sasquatch 2000, $10.85 at Amazon.

+ The Greatest of Marlys at Amazon

Nina Hemmingsson’s style could be described as the result of Lynda Barry meeting up with Gary Larson on a trip through the fjords. Her characters are crude renditions of what life has to offer, yet it is precisely these characterizations that make you assume something dryly humourous is going on or that some cutting social commentary is being made. On the one hand it is frustrating that some knowledge of Swedish is required, but the art here is so intriguing that it almost doesn’t matter. Hemmingsson’s work appears regularly in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Artist: Nina Hemmingsson
+ aftonbladet.se
+ andyland.se

Illustrator Jessica Romberg focuses here on Tokyo Fashion Spotting, from a series of several illustrations depicting different districts and looks from the streets of Tokyo. Romberg first hit the streets with her camera, to document the parade of personal flair, and thus the series of illustrations was born. Romberg plays with a wide palette, incorporating her own prints and patterns to create graphic fashion illustrations that are sophisticated, yet fresh and playful.

Artist: Jessica Romberg
+ ritbord.com
+ andyland.se

Moa Lindqvist Bartling is an illustrator with a solid background in fashion illustration, having started as a print designer for H & M, although this artist certainly does not limit herself to this domain. Her work, such as the chanterelle mushrooms or the many pots of tea, is colourful and energetic, yet softened by the use of inks and watercolours. What is particularly eye-catching about a lot of Bartling’s work is her sparse use of line, yet the pieces are remarkably defined.

Artist: Moa Lindqvist Bartling
+ ammo.se
+ andyland.se

Ingela Och Vi is the Swedish duo of Elisabeth Månsson, an illustrator and graphic designer, and Peter Turkalj, photographer. Together they create what they call ‘illustration photography’, a mixture of set design, fabric swatches and illustration that is then photographed. Elements of the composition are cut out and pasted onto an illustrated backdrop and fabric is used to add even more dimension and texture to pieces that are already rich in humour or commentary, such as this piece depicting a libidinous vampire librarian about to descend on her prey.

Artist: Ingela Och Vi
+ ingelaochvi.com
+ andyland.se

Louise Enhörning is a photographer with a lot of experience in the fashion field whose atmospheric shots have a feel of the movie still about them. Her swan, sea, sky photos are soft, but anything but serene. The models in the photographs become characters in their own scene, be it on the shore or on the sidewalk. Through Enhörning’s lens we get a glimpse into a secret world of dark-haired girls and bric-a-brac …

Artist: Louise Enhörning
+ louiseenhorning.com
+ andyland.se

Andyland is a terrific new online gallery that features contemporary art by leading Scandinavian illustrators, photographers and graphic designers. Most of the limited edition work is available on photo or aquarelle paper, but just browsing through the gallery is a great way to get a glimpse of what is going on in the Swedish world of illustration, especially in areas such as fashion. And because Andyland has so much to offer, starting tomorrow, and carrying on all week, we will be looking at the work of some of the individual artists that we came across.

Artists: varied
+ andyland.se

This book presents an excellent array of photographs of the work of Canadian West coast artist Brian Jungen who works with consumer objects to create mixed media sculptures provoke first that smile of recognition which then leads to the deeper analysis of context. Jungen is well known for his use of brand name sports shoes that are transformed into masks or lawn chairs that are reborn as skeletal structures. Among the essays in this book is an interview with the artist.

Hardcover, 176 pages. Douglas & McIntyre, 2005. $33.00 at Amazon.

+ Brian Jungen at Amazon